What Is the Prescription Period for RAF Claims?

A Road Accident Fund (RAF) claim prescribes — meaning it is lost if not timeously pursued — three years from the date on which the cause of action arose, under section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 read with the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. The cause of action generally accrues on the date of the accident itself. Once the prescription period has run, a claimant cannot lodge a new claim unless a court grants condonation, which is not a routine remedy. The period for an unidentified-driver (hit-and-run) claim is different: summons must be served on the Fund within two years of the date of the accident under section 17(1)(b) of the RAF Act.

What “Prescription” Means in an RAF Claim

Prescription is the legal expiry of the right to claim. Once the prescription period has run, the claim is extinguished unless a court intervenes. Prescription is not the same as the time limit for giving notice, for an interim lodgement, or for a procedural step that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) may require as a matter of internal process — it is the final cut-off for pursuing the claim.

The Fund has a statutory defence of prescription and routinely raises it in defended matters. Understanding when the clock starts is therefore the most important fact in the case: if the prescription date is wrong, the entire claim is lost on a point of law, regardless of how strong the merits are.

The Statutory Period: Three Years Under the RAF Act and the Prescription Act

Section 17(1)(a) of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 limits a third party to instituting an action for compensation within three years after the date on which the loss or damage was suffered, or such longer period as the court may on good cause shown determine. The Prescription Act 68 of 1969, in turn, sets the general three-year prescription period for the recovery of a debt in section 11(d), and the underlying obligation giving rise to an RAF claim is read against that framework where the RAF Act is silent.

The Prescription Act draws a useful line between a debt that has arisen and a debt that is due:

Concept	Meaning	How it applies to an RAF claim
Debt has arisen	The triggering event giving rise to the right to claim has occurred	For an RAF claim, the trigger is the motor-vehicle accident — the period runs from the accident date
Debt is due	The creditor can lawfully demand performance (e.g. after demand or on a future date)	Seldom the operative concept for RAF claims, since the right crystallises on the accident date

The Road Accident Fund Act applies uniformly across South Africa — there is no provincial variation in the prescription rule itself. A claimant in Limpopo, the Western Cape, or KwaZulu-Natal has the same three-year period under section 17(1)(a) as a claimant in Gauteng.

When Does the Clock Start? Date of Accrual Explained

The default trigger is the date of the accident. For ongoing loss (future medical expenses, future loss of earnings), prescription is generally treated as running from the date of the accident for the lump-sum claim — the courts treat the whole claim as having accrued on the accident date, with the future heads of damage simply quantified later rather than treated as separate debts that arose later.

Where the injury only manifests after the accident (a head injury where cognitive symptoms emerge after discharge, a soft-tissue injury where pain persists and worsens), the date of accrual can be argued to be later than the accident date. That is a factual dispute the courts decide case by case, and a claimant who relies on a late-manifestation argument should obtain a written legal opinion before relying on it.

Practical note: Where the loss is genuinely one that could not have been known on the accident date — a future medical expense that only crystallises years later, a loss of earning capacity that only becomes quantifiable once treatment concludes — the prescription period for that specific head of damage may run from the date the loss is actually suffered, not from the accident date itself. This is fact-specific and is not the safe default assumption.

Identified vs Unidentified Driver: The Critical Distinction

The Road Accident Fund Act draws a sharp distinction between identified-driver and unidentified-driver (hit-and-run) claims, and the period is different in each case:

Scenario	Period	Source
Identified driver — the driver and owner of the offending vehicle are known (or their insurer is identified)	Three years from the date of the accident	Section 17(1)(a) of the RAF Act, read with section 11(d) of the Prescription Act 68 of 1969
Unidentified driver (hit-and-run) — the driver or owner of the offending vehicle cannot be established	Two years from the date of the accident — summons must be served on the Fund before the period expires	Section 17(1)(b) of the RAF Act

The hit-and-run rule catches out lay claimants who wait to see if the vehicle is found. The two-year clock is not suspended while the police investigate — it runs from the date of the accident itself. A claimant who sits on a hit-and-run claim thinking “I will sue when they find the driver” will find, on identification, that the two-year period has already expired.

Section 17(1)(b) specifically protects the position where the identity of the driver or owner cannot be established; it does not toll the period until identification. Practical steps for hit-and-run claimants — reporting to SAPS, opening a CAS docket, lodging Form RAF 2, and serving summons on the Fund in the Gauteng Division of the High Court — should be in motion within months of the accident, not years.

Interaction With the Prescription Act 68 of 1969

The Prescription Act sets the general machinery for when prescription begins to run, when it is interrupted by the issue and service of summons, when an acknowledgement of debt restarts the clock, and when condonation may be granted. Section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Act is the specific provision that fixes the limitation period itself, but where the RAF Act is silent on a particular point, the Prescription Act’s machinery fills the gap.

An acknowledgement of debt by the RAF, or service of summons, interrupts prescription in the ordinary way. The two statutes therefore work together — section 17 of the RAF Act sets the period, and the Prescription Act supplies the procedural rules that operate once the clock is running.

What Happens Once the Period Has Run

Once the prescription period has run, the claim is extinguished in the ordinary course. The RAF typically raises prescription as a “special plea” in its plea, or in its formal response to a late lodgement. A successfully pleaded special plea of prescription extinguishes the claim; there is no automatic right of reinstatement.

A claimant who has missed the deadline carries the onus of establishing one of the following:

1. That prescription had not in fact commenced — for example, because the underlying debt-due analysis places the trigger event after the accident date;
2. That an exception applies — minor, curatorship, late-manifesting loss, or fraud by the debtor;
3. That condonation should be granted by a court — an application to set aside the prescription, with a high threshold that depends on the facts of the case.

Condonation is not granted lightly. The claimant must show reasonable grounds for the delay, the importance of the claim, and that the RAF would not be unduly prejudiced. Late lodgement does not automatically restart the clock; the underlying claim still has to be substantively valid once the procedural hurdle is cleared.

Practical Steps Before the Prescription Period Runs

The single safest course is to lodge inside the period and to issue summons before it expires. Useful practical steps include:

• Lodge a claim with the RAF on the prescribed form before the three-year cut-off (or, for hit-and-run claims, before the two-year cut-off).
• If negotiations stall, issue summons before the period runs — issuing summons is the safest interruption of prescription, and an incomplete set of pleadings is preferable to a complete claim lodged out of time.
• Keep a written record of key dates: the accident date, the date the driver was identified (in hit-and-run cases), the date lodgement was made, and the date the cause of action first accrued.
• If the injury only manifests later, document the medical evidence showing when the loss was actually suffered.
• For minors, track the date of birth — the three-year period runs from the eighteenth birthday, not from the accident.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice fields MVA and insurance-repudiation instructions across its Gauteng branch network. Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo at the Roodepoort branch specifically lists MVA claims and insurance repudiations among her specialisms, and is the natural first contact for a prescription-period assessment on a live file before the cut-off lands.

Common Scenarios and How the Period Applies

Scenario	When the clock starts
Identified driver, accident on 1 March 2024	1 March 2024 — claim must be instituted by 28 February 2027
Hit-and-run (unidentified driver), accident on 1 March 2024	1 March 2024 — summons must be served on the Fund by 28 February 2026 under section 17(1)(b)
Accident 1 March 2024, symptoms manifest 1 January 2025	Generally 1 March 2024, but a factual dispute may place the date of loss later
Minor claimant at date of accident	Prescription does not run against a minor; the clock starts on the eighteenth birthday, and the three-year period then runs from that date

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to claim from the RAF after a car accident?

Three years from the date the cause of action arose — in the usual case, the date of the accident itself. The period is set by section 17(1)(a) of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 read with the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. A claim lodged after the three-year period has run is prescribed and will be defended by the RAF on that basis.

When does the prescription clock start running for a hit-and-run claim?

Where the driver or owner of the offending vehicle was unidentified at the time of the accident, summons must be served on the Road Accident Fund within two years of the date of the accident under section 17(1)(b) of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996. The two-year clock runs from the date of the accident, not from the date on which the driver is later identified.

Can a prescribed RAF claim be revived?

Only by court order (condonation) on application, and only where the claimant can show good cause for the delay. Condonation requires the claimant to establish reasonable grounds for the delay and that the Fund would not be unduly prejudiced. It is not a routine remedy and is granted only in genuinely deserving cases.

Does the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 apply to RAF claims?

The Road Accident Fund Act’s section 17 governs the limitation period itself, but the Prescription Act’s procedural machinery — when prescription is interrupted by summons, when an acknowledgement of debt restarts the clock, and the condonation framework — is applied to RAF claims to the extent the RAF Act is silent. In practice, the two statutes work together.

What is the difference between lodging a claim and issuing summons for prescription purposes?

Lodging a claim form with the Road Accident Fund is a necessary procedural step, but the safest interruption of prescription is the issue and service of court summons before the period expires. Claimants who lodge but never litigate risk the Fund raising prescription on the underlying claim if negotiations collapse after the period has run.

Is the prescription period different for minors?

Yes. The well-established rule is that prescription does not run against a minor — the clock only starts when the claimant turns 18. The three-year period then runs from their eighteenth birthday. This is one of the most important exceptions for claimants injured as children.

Does the prescription period differ by province?

No. Section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Act is national legislation and applies uniformly. The provincial High Court division in which the claim is litigated (Gauteng Division for Gauteng-based claimants, KwaZulu-Natal Division for KwaZulu-Natal-based claimants, and so on) does not change the underlying limitation period.

If you are approaching the three-year prescription cut-off — or the two-year hit-and-run cut-off — or are unsure when the clock started running in your case, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys. The firm’s general litigation practice can advise on whether your RAF claim is still timeous and, if not, whether condonation is realistically available. The firm handles MVA and RAF matters from its Linden, Randburg head office (49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2194; tel 011 888 0246; after-hours 061 516 6878) and across its Gauteng branches in Roodepoort (Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo, whose specialisms include MVA claims), Sandton, Pretoria, Centurion, Bedfordview, Alberton, and Midrand. Burger Huyser Attorneys carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”) and gives honest assessments of case prospects rather than guaranteeing outcomes.